June is approaching, and that means we're one month closer to the expiration of the anti-terror special measures law passed in January via Article 59.Both parties are stepping up their preparations for the fight over a new bill that will likely occur in the autumn special session.When the Fukuda government agreed to Komeito's demand to …
Tag: MSDF refueling mission
Public discontent, in numbers
Sankei has published the fourth part of its analysis of recent public opinion polls (parts one through three discussed here).The questions dissected here are related to the government's use of its two-thirds majority to pass the gasoline tax and MSDF refueling mission authorization bills a second time in the HR, and cooperation between the LDP …
Use of force
"Japan PM forces navy bill through" — BBC."Japan's ruling party steamrolled a new anti-terrorism law through parliament." — Morning Brief, Foreign Policy Passport."Japan's ruling coalition forced a bill through parliament today..." — LA Times (AP)"Fukuda forces through law on Japanese naval deployment" — International Herald Tribune (NYT)"Japan forces through terror law" — Financial TimesAnyone else …
Censure motion on hold for now
As the close of the Diet session approaches — and with it, the presumed re-passage of the new anti-terror bill in the HR — the DPJ has announced that it is reconsidering submitting an HC censure motion this session in response to the government's use of its supermajority. It will instead save this motion for …
2007: The Year That Was In Japanese Politics
A recent article in the Yomiuri Shimbun surveying the Japanese political situation as 2007 gives way to 2008 included a sidebar that compared the present day with the bakumatsu, the last days of the Tokugawa.Looking back over the events in political Japan over 2007, that comparison does not seem inappropriate. The picture that emerges is …
Continue reading 2007: The Year That Was In Japanese Politics
Individuals matter
With the start of another week, there are now fewer than three weeks before the already-extended Diet session is scheduled to end. It is still unclear how Japan's first experiment with a divided Diet will end.Six important questions, it seems, will be postponed into the final days of the Diet session. (1) Will the DPJ …
The elusive rules of the game
Prime Minister Fukuda held another meeting with Ozawa Ichiro and the heads of the other opposition parties on Thursday.Unlike the last meeting, nothing of note occurred — perhaps the other leaders were there to forestall a "corrupt bargain" between Messrs. Fukuda and Ozawa — and the LDP and the DPJ appear to be no closer …
He came, they talked…what next?
Prime Minister Fukuda, cold bug and all, arrived in Washington as scheduled on Thursday evening and spent Friday meeting with President Bush and then dining with the president and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.The Swamp, the Chicago Tribune's politics blog, has a summary here, and takes care to note that Mr. Bush served US beef …
Ozawa, on top again
Ozawa Ichiro has granted an interview to Asahi (one of the papers he didn't single out for criticism in his "parting" remarks) in which he reviews the circumstances surrounding the meetings with Prime Minister Fukuda that resulted in his decision to resign, his plans for a general election campaign, and the DPJ's policy goals.With a …
The alliance cools
Robert Gates, US secretary of defense, is in Japan for talks with Prime Minister Fukuda and members of Mr. Fukuda's cabinet, including the defense and foreign ministers, for talks on US-Japan security cooperation. Not surprisingly, Japan's interrupted refueling mission in the Indian Ocean topped the agenda.It's a shame that Mr. Gates did not take office …
Tobias S. Harris 